Russia is your house that Vladimir Putin developed- as well as he’ll never ever desert it|Dmitri Trenin

By co-opting the masses against the elite, the president has shaped a country to echo his values and grievances. And now hes working to secure his legacy

When Vladimir Putin was asked about his job, two years after becoming master of the Kremlin on New Years Eve, 1999, he said something about being a hired manager elected by the Russian people for a term of office. When he is asked about his job now, he calls it fate. Yesterday ensure thousands joined the biggest since anti-government demonstrations in many years to protest against Putin and his “ministers “/ protg Dmitry Medvedev.

Even so the Russian people, Putin is above all a emblem of stability after a decade and a half of turmoil that included the misguided and botched reform of the Soviet communist system; its abrupt end and the sudden advent of freedom that are typically looked like a free-for-all; the painful dissolving of the Soviet Union; marketplace reforms, often dubbed shock without therapy; virtually instant crass inequality; the end of ideology and the collapse of morals.

Putin was appointed by Boris Yeltsin, Russias first chairman, to be his successor, but he earned his stripes by taming the oligarchs, bringing to an end the seemingly endless war in Chechnya, breaking the backbone of the once powerful Communist party and marginalising liberals. He recreated the traditional Russian system of hierarchical government. The state that had been privatised by the high and mighty could now strike back, reasserting its awesome power.

In much of what he was doing, Putin responded to the paternalistic demand of the bulk of the Russian people who had not especially succeeded in the post-Communist era. Not only did he genuinely win elections, which under his regulation became a means of confirming people in power not replacing them. He also cracked the code of staying in power in a country that had rejected both his predecessors, the once widely popular Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin. When faced with the choice, early on, to go with the elites including the intelligentsia or with the ordinary people, he opted the latter.

Putin understood that to rule Russia he had to stay genuinely popular with the masses and from time to time fissure his lash at the elites: a good tsar reining in the greedy boyars. Popularity ratings are important: to rule effectively, one needs at least 60% supporting; to rule comfortably, 70%. Approaching 50%, however, which is totally fine in the west, is fraught with the dangers of civil discord in Russia. Thus by his own personality, his public actions and positions, Putin managed to confer legitimacy on the Russian state in the eyes of the overwhelming majority of the population.

Seen as disruptive in the west, Putin has struck a conservative tone at home. He permitted economic reforms in his first word, and later tolerated talk of modernisation, but his method of governance is basically bureaucratic. Putin is both a capitalist and a statist. He understands the power of the market but is also wary of it, maintaining the state always at the ready to step in and reassert control. He has reduced former oligarchs to obedient servants ever so keen to oblige him. He has seen his old friends rise to riches knowing that he can rely on their unquestioning loyalty the one quality Putin appears to value particularly highly. The question about Putins own wealth misses the phase above a certain threshold, fund was transformed into raw power, and in these terms the Russian chairperson has few, if any peers.

An autocrat with the consent of the governed, Putin has preserved the essential personal freedoms that the Russian people first earned with the demise of the Communist regime. People can adore and travel freely; Facebook and Twitter are essentially unrestricted; there are even a few tolerated media outlets overtly in opposition to the Kremlin. Political freedoms, however, are more tightly circumscribed, so as to leave no chance to potential colour revolutionaries or politically ambitious exiled oligarchs. For the bulk of the population, this matters little; the relatively few activists have a selection of taking it or leaving.

Putin once described himself as Russias top nationalist. He has also proclaimed patriotism to be Russias national idea. On his listing of values, the Russian state features at the very top. Since day one as chairwoman, he has been following Yeltsins parting petition: Take care of Russia . The Soviet Union are members of Russias historical names, and so its little wonder that, to Putin, its downfall was a great catastrophe. His basic frame of reference is Russias rich history. Once Putin quipped that there was no one in the world worth talking to after the death of Mahatma Gandhi. Indeed, he talks with many, but he truly maintains company with Russias past rulers: tsars, monarches and party leaders. He is just the latest in a long line.

Having no peers in the land and very few abroad is a heavy psychological onu. One needs to look to a much higher authority. To Putin, however, religion is more than a personal matter. Christian Orthodoxy, in his view, is a spiritual and moral guide, the essence of Russias unique civilisation, and without it the countrys history and its classical literature and the arts cannot be fully understood. To Putin, the Byzantine symphony, an alliance of the state and the established religious organisations, first among them the Russian Orthodox church, is the core of national unity.

Next year, Russia is due to hold its presidential elections. Virtually everyone expects Putin to run, and no one has any doubt about his victory. The only question is how many people will come to the polling stations, and how many of them will vote for Putin. The Kremlin is now shooting for 70% in both cases. This fourth word in the Kremlin fifth, if one counts Putins regency during Dmitry Medvedevs stint may be Putins last , not so much because he will turn 72 after the next six-year term expires, but rather because he was loth to change the constitution previously.

It is unlikely, however, that Putin will leave the stage even in 2024, after almost a one-quarter of a century in power: his task is in fact a mission that will not be done as long as he is active. His challenge in the long term is to pass on leadership to a new generation of Russias leaders, and make sure that this works. Right now he is busy identifying people, most of them in their 40 s and even 30 s, who might kind that group. Some have already been appointed to senior stances as pastors, governors, or other high officials. All will be tried and tested and given tasks to fulfil. Putin himself, a father figure to his proteges, would then become a pater patriae , or, to use a Singaporean formula, a chairman mentor.

It is much too early to pass final judgment on Putin. He has maintained the country in one piece and restored its global status. He continues to be a formidable figure, and is always ready to amaze. He has made a deep impact on his country. It is Putins Russia largely because he is Russias Putin.